The DOT will hold 11 press events across the state this week to commemorate National Work Zone Awareness Week, which began Monday and runs through Friday.

“The way people drive in the vicinity of highway maintenance and construction work zones can mean the difference between life and death for motorists, their passengers and those who are working to improve our roadways throughout the year,” DOT Commissioner Joan McDonald said in a press release.

Motorists who speed in work areas face double fines, with two or more convictions leading to a suspended driver’s license.

In 2010, there were more than 497 crashes in DOT construction and maintenance zones, 202 people were injured and 15 died.

Nationally there were 667 fatalities in work zones in 2009, down from 720 in 2008.